By Peter Hannam

Updated22 January 2018 — 6:24pmfirst published at 3:29pm

The Turnbull government's pledge of an additional $60 million to help improve the health of the Great Barrier Reef has been dismissed by environmental groups and scientists as insufficient and a "wasteful publicity stunt".

The government's pledge of the funds over 18 months includes $10.4 million for "an all-out assault" to reduce the impact of coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish, the government said in a statement.

The number of vessels used to curb the spread of the starfish will increase from three to eight

About $36.6 million will also go to further reduce the run-off of nutrients and other pollution from farms near the Great Barrier Reef.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull visits the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) to unveil the 'rescue plan' for the reef.

Photo: Michael Chambers

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"The reef is the world's largest living structure and a global natural icon," the statement said.

Jon Brodie, a Professorial Fellow with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University, said the funding would likely make little difference particularly if spent on programs already shown to be ineffective.

He said these included crown-of-thorns efforts that appear to have minimal impact on numbers despite removing 500,000 starfish, and whose full results were not being made public – as Fairfax Media reported last week.

Dr Brodie said the federal and state governments' own water quality report card in 2016 indicated funding needed to be closer to a $1 billion per year over a decade.

Crown-of-thorns starfish being lured to one location - for possible easier extermination.

Photo: University of Queensland

The Turnbull government "is not prepared to put enough money in to make a difference", he said.

The Australian Institute of Marine Science, one recipient of money to develop a new Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program, welcomed the funds but noted any recovery hinged on dealing with the threat from climate change.

John Rumney from the Great Barrier Reef Legacy takes a close look at bleaching corals near Port Douglas.

"If Malcolm Turnbull was serious about protecting the Great Barrier Reef he would listen to scientists and transition away from the real reef-killer: the fossil fuel industry," Andrew Bartlett, Greens senator for Queensland, said,

No state consultation

A spokesman for Leeanne Enoch, Queensland's new Minister for the Great Barrier Reef, said the Turnbull government hadn't consulted the Labor state government ahead of Monday's announcement.

Federal officials made contact with state counterparts on Monday to discuss how the funding would be rolled out, he said.

WWF-Australia welcomed the funding as "positive but nowhere near enough to meet Australia's promise to the World Heritage Committee".

The group said Australia had promised to cut sediment flowing into the reef by as much as half by 2025 and nitrogen pollution by 80 per cent.

"The funding announced today won't get us to the water quality targets we promised UNESCO" to maintain the World Heritage status of the reef, Sean Hoobin, WWF-Australia spokesman said.

"Failing on these targets is failing the reef," Mr Hoobin said. "With almost half the coral cover lost to bleaching over the last two years the reef needs a massive new investment to help it respond to global warming."

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WWF has called for the government to commit $475 million a year for the next four years to improve water quality in key Great Barrier Reef catchments.

Unprecedented back-to-back bleaching hit the central and northern regions of the reef hard over the past two years and there are indications of some bleaching at the southern end this summer, Dr Brodie said.